The Bicycling
I’ve never been much of an athlete. I was never great at sports, nor was I absolutely pathetic at them, it’s just that I was never all that much interested in being a participant. As a teen I was pretty good at golf, tennis and volleyball, but outside of occasional games of golf – I can still hit the ball hella far – I’ve not played any sport much as an adult.
I’ve also not been much into the physical exercise. I don’t know whether it’s because I never had that athletics gene or if I’m just lazy, but it’s never been my bag. Like most American’s I’ve given it a try through numerous gym memberships, but that one year contract has generally meant three months of exercise and nine months of wasted money.
The closest I came previously to really enjoying exercise was when I took six months worth of Tae Kwon Do/Hapkido. It was not at all easy, but I liked my teachers and did enjoy myself until I got cold after cold after cold and pretty much lost all the progress I had made. Then the teachers changed at the studio I went to, folks I didn’t like much, so that was that.
For a while now I’ve known I needed to find some physical activity that I’d both enjoy and be truly beneficial to me. I’m 35, not in shape and fear the ever growing gut monster. But what could I do that I’d stick with? Walking is mind-numbingly boring to me – “Ohh, look at me, I’m putting one foot in front of the other!” Jogging is an impossibility with my knees being what they are. We know my track record with gyms and I think my home gym never cut it.
About four or five months ago I began to really spend some time thinking about what it is I could do that would keep me active and hold my interest. After much thought I concluded that whatever I did, it had to be something that got me outside. Since I work from home, I spend most of my time indoors, which begins to wear you down. I needed an activity that got me outside and a gym doesn’t do that, it just puts me indoors once again. You know my feelings on walking/jogging and while hiking is fun and gets me outdoors, I find it’s best enjoyed at random intervals. I needed an activity where the scenery changed regularly. What could I do?
After much thought, about four months ago I settled on cycling. It gets me out of the house. It provides good exercise. It’s practical, even, considering most of my life and business are done within a two square mile radius and this could be an alternative to driving.
I went to a couple of bike shops and let me tell you, that was humbling. See, they want you to actually test drive these things before you buy and, well, I hadn’t been on a bike in 20 years and the prospect of making a jackass of myself in front of one of these salesmen wasn’t all that appealing. The first place I looked at a bike I wouldn’t even try it. It wasn’t until the third place I visited that I saw a bike that said, “Hey, man, it’s cool. Ride me.” So I did and, while a tad embarrassed at just how bad I was at it, I sucked it up. The guy did actually laugh a bit and I don’t blame him – I rode the bike to the end of the alley behind the store, stopped, turned the bike around then rode back. I was so afraid of falling I didn’t want to make the turn. The guy chuckled, but said, “Dude, ride a bike for ten minutes and suddenly most of your fears will go away.”
This last guy was so encouraging and the bike was so fun that I made the leap. I ended up buying a hybrid bike – one with practical road uses, but could also be taken off road if I wanted to mix things up a bit. I settled on the Specialized Crosstrail Expert.
Cycling also fulfills that need to get me physically out of the house. I never thought of myself as an outdoors person, but that’s started to change. I love hitting one of the many local bike paths or running errands on my bike. When I want a greater challenge, I can do a little mountain biking by taking my bike into Griffith Park or the fire trails of Topanga Canyon. I’ve even taken my bike with me on some road trips, including a trip this past weekend to Big Bear which was amazing. I never thought of myself as “one with nature,” and while I’ll never be a crunchy granola/hippie/birkenstock type of guy, I do find the nature to be quite enjoyable.
Cycling’s also helped me face a number of fears in my life. Not majorly debilitating ones, but ones that really had no place in my life. We all have a fear of getting hurt – a healthy fear I might add – but mine went deeper. I’d limit what I’d do to avoid the potential of being hurt, even if the chances were slim that I would hurt myself. I also had a big fear of falling, despite the fact I really don’t fall! My first couple of weeks on the bike were both exhilarating and down right frightening, but once you figure out how to conquer those fears, you’re just left with exhilaration. I fell a few times in the beginning, but the simple truth is once you fall, you pick yourself up and keep moving.
There’s another great thing about cycling that didn’t occur to me until I started up. Remember that feeling of exhilaration you had riding a bike when you were 12? That comes back to you. As you get older it becomes harder and harder to just have fun like you did as a kid — and for good reason — but it’s good for your mental health if you can find touchstones in your life that bring you back to those days of youth. It’s not about chasing your childhood — we’re adults here and have to act accordingly to survive — but recapturing those moments of pure fun, those moments of feeling like a 12 year old again, are just good for your mental health.
It’s been four months and my interest in cycling hasn’t waned. In fact, the enthusiasm has grown. July and early August were tough months for me — an enormous amount of work and personal/family challenges made life unbelievably busy and stressful — but I’m back to it and enjoying it immensely. I’ll tell you about my weekend up in Big Bear mountain biking soon — it was so much fun I see myself doing it again in a month or so.
